St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-07-07
DEATH OF JUDGE POLAND.
The Eminent Jurist, the Statesman, tia
Citizen.

the sudden death of Judge Poland at
his Waterville home. 1t seems that
he was in his barn assisting in slowing
away few tumbles of hay which a
man was pitching up to him, when he
called out to hold on a minute. A
moment later the workman heard him
grOan and going to him at once found
him unconscious. He ran to the house
for help, but when he returned life
was gone. The cause of death was
pronounced apoplexy, and the fact
that the weather was extremely hot
and that the Judge was making more
than ordinary physical exertiOn I'M
dOubtedly FASTENED the fatal stroke,
although his friends were aware that
more than once within the past year
or two he had been threatened with
something akin to this disease. When
in this place only two days before his
death, he spoke of feeling unusually
we'll and of being in more than COM
mon vigOr of body.
Luke Potter Poland, the eldest son
of Luther and Nancy POTTERY Poland
was born at Westford, Vermont, Nov.
LIST, 1915. His ancestry came from
Ipswich, Mass. Luke's early advan-
tages were quite limited, including on
ly a common school education until
twelve years old when he entered a
country store at Waterville for two
years. Here he learned to write a
good hand, keep accounts and transact
ordinary business. The three follow
ing years he spent with his father on
the farm and in running a saw-mill.
This latter fact gave the Judge an OPP
pOrtunity to facetiOusly remark in af-
ter life that he was educated in a saw
MILL" At the end of three years, hav-
ing exchanged boards for enough cloth
to make necessary clothing, he attend
ed Jericho academy for five months.
This completed his school advantages
but not his education. His active, re-
tentive mind had received training and
development from many sources from
the farm, the shop, the store, the saw
mill, the public school, the academy,
and the few books to be obtained in
the neighbOrhOod, which were eagerly
sought, and their contents mastered.
He had now become confident of an
ability to open and serve in a wider
field of labor than the few paternal
acres. With his fathers approval, he
went on foot to MOrrisville to teach the
winter school. He proved a successful
teacher, and was engaged for the sec
Ond winter. He was physically, as
well as mentally strong and we'll de-
velOped. OF a combative, Investigate
ing turn of mind, he naturally turned
his attention to the study and practice
of the law as a profession. He entered
upon it's study at the close of his first
school, in the Office of Judge Samuel
A. Willard, at Morrisville. Here he
continued to exhibit the same habits of
industry and perseverance. He made
such proficiency in the study of the
law, that at the December term, 1886,
of the LamOille county court, the first
term after the organization of the
county, when only twenty-one years
old, he was admitted to the bar.
He remained at MOrrisville practic-
ing his chosen profession until he was
elected judge of the supreme court.
The care, faithfulness and ability
which he brought to the discharge of
the duties of an attorney, attended, as
they always are with success, soon
gained him large and constantly in
creasing practice, mostly in Lamoille,
Orleans and Washington counties.
Starting with no property, and with a
family, he became an intense worker.
Driven by necessity arising from the
wants of an increasing family, as well
as by a natural desire for success, he
acquired facility and rapidity in the
dispatch of business, a mastery of prin-
ciples and cases, comprehension of
and power to marshal facts, that is
rarely equalled. The knowledge ac-
quired by varied experience in the
common affairs of every day life great
ly aided him, not only in understand
ing his cases, but in presenting them
so as to be readily cOmprehended by
others. He was careful in preparing,
skilful in managing and presenting his
cases to the jury. He was clear, CO.
gent and logical in the statement of
the law and it's application in the high
er courts. He yielded gracefully to in
evitable defeat, but was too cOmbative
to surrender SO long as fortress re-
NAMED uncarried. In I848, free soil
democrat, he was elected judge of the
supreme court over a wing competitor,
by a wing legislature. He subsequent
ly received seventeen successive cleo
tons by Uiua UOce vote. He was elect
ed chief justice in 1860, and held the
office until he resigned in 1865, to ac-
cept the appointment to the United
States senate, in the place of Judge
COllamer, deceased. By intuition, ap-
parently, but really by close and Wig
OrOus application he mastered the
broader principles of the law. He was
greatly aided in applying them by the
knowledge of common affairs early
gained, and by his broad, discriminat
ing common sense. He was quick to
discern the controlling element in the
facts of a case, which made principle
applicable or inapplicable. Clear in
comprehension, he stated his views
forcibly and with remarkable clear
ness. His plain, pointed, discriminate
ing charges were so helpful that the
jury rarely disagreed. His presence
was fine, his bearing courtly, his self
command great. He had, withal,
enough of the natural school master to
command and maintain the best of or
der, even in the heat of conflict.
Hon. James Barrett, many years
Judge Poland's associate at the bar
and upon the bench, writes concerning
him: ain thirty years conversancy
with the bench and bar of Vermont, it
has not been my fortune to know any
other instance in which the presiding
judge in his nisi prius circuit has been
so uniformly. and by the spontaneous